“They were willing to prepay. But, they wanted to know if we had any units for testing and demonstration. So I sent them to the eastern part of the country and gave them some time to try out. Now they’re doing a practical demonstartion and getting feedback from the farmers.”
-Musenga Siliwawa, Founder of Spot Agro
Pre-sales were at the core of Musenga’s success with his fertilizer application product: Spot Agro. He faced the challenge of manufacturing the units, but without pre-sales it would be difficult to know how many units he should build, or even whether his product was right for his customers.
##Why Try for Pre-Sales?
So what would have been the difference between pre-sales and regular sales for Musenga? First, pre-sales let him know what the demand was. Musenga managed to get 25,000 pre-orders. That told him what portion of his customers were interested in his product and gave him the confidence needed to order his first batch of production.
It also offered all the advantages we discussed in getting paid upfront. So clearly pre-sales were critical, but how did Musenga secure them?
##Building Credibility for Pre-Sales
For Musenga, building credibility was all about working with the national broadcaster in Zambia and allowing farmers to physically try the product to see how it worked for themselves. This combination gave potential customers enough confidence in him and his product to place pre-orders on the spot.
So in short, for Musenga, building credibility and using media intelligently translated into the pre-orders he needed to get production up and running and quickly establish himself in the market. As a result, his fertilizer application tool is now being used by tens of thousands of farmers across Zambia.